Change-gear device



c. E. FRUDDEN.

CHANGE GEAR DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 24, |918. 1,348,935. Patented Aug. 10, 1920.

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c. E. FRUDDEN. y CHANGE GEAR DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAYZA, I9I8.

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CHANGE GEAR DEVICE.

APPLlcATioN FILED MAY 24. 191'8.

Patented Augo 10, 1920.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

,CONRAD E. ERUDDEN, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO PARE/ETT TRACTOR COMPANY, VOF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

CHAN @rE-GEAR DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Auf. 1o, 1920.

Application filed May 24, 1918. Serial No. 236,340.

va citizen of the United States, residing in Chicago, county of Cook, State of Illinois,

.have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Change-Crear Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in change-gear devices, and more especially to the type of change-gear device or mechanism commonly employed in automobiles, motor-trucks, tractors and similar machinery, employing internal combustion engines for power, Vwherein it is necessary to provide a variable gear ratiobetween the engine and the driving wheels. Among the requiren ments of such a device are that it shall be as light and strong as possible and simple in its construction and maintenance, efhcient in its power transmission and easy to operate. As is well-known various arrangements of gears and pinions are employed for the purpose, a common expedient being to arrange sets of gears on parallel'shafts and provide means for shifting them into and out of mesh, this form of device being known as a sliding-gear set and in com- Cne of the objects of this invention is to provide such a device, designed to provide several combinations of gear for driving a motor vehicle ahead and a reverse gear combination, with the gears` so arranged that they are as compact as possible, requiringV a minimum amount of sliding movement of any one of them, so that their shafts may be as short and, therefore, rigid as possible; and to provide also for the driving through each gear combination with al minimum number of gears and pinions in mesh, thereby providing the advantages of a direct drive as it is known for all of the combinations ahead instead of driving through intermediate sets of gears and pinions as is a common expedient. y

VA change-gear mechanism embodying the principles of this invention is illustrated in the accompanying. drawings in which:

Figure l is a radial section throughall of the gear shafts, showing the gears and pinio faces. Y T

F ig. 2 is a top plan view showing the com-v plete mechanisin. i

' Fig. 3 is' a view showing the gears and shafts in side elevation.

ns as viewed from all their sides or Fig. 4 is a diagrammatical view showing thel arrangement of the gears and pinions for the various change speed combinations.

As shown in said drawings l0 indicates a part of the frame of a tractor or similar motor vehicle, the same being suspended through a journal member ll from the axle l2 of the vehicle, which latter rests on a large driving wheel or traction Wheel l5. The machine is propelled by an internal combustion engine transmitting its power to a driving shaft 20, these'y parts being here shown as arranged'in actual practice' but their particular design and construction not constitutingany necessary part of the invention; and likewise the particular design of the engine and the means for coupling it to the shaft 20 are not involved in this invention and not here shown. E

rIlle driving wheel 15 carries a large internal gear 22 in constant mesh with a driving pinion 23 fixed on a cross shaft 24; and on the shaft 24 is also arranged a large gear 25 which drives the shaft through a differential gear7 mechanism BO in its hub. The shaft is continued through the differential gear and carries at its other end a pinion corresponding to the pinion 23 for driving a similar traction wheel on the other side of the machine, the differential gear permitting the traction wheels to run at unequal speeds in turning corners, as is well-known.

Between the driving shaft 20 and the gear 25 which drives the traction wheels through the differential mechanism, as above described, is the change-gear mechanism comprising parts as follows:

VThe shaft 20 carries a small pinion A and a somewhat larger pinion B, both of these being free Vto slide endwise on the shaft but non-rotative with respect thereto; the shaft being provided with splines or `feathers 40 engaging in corresponding grooves in the hubs of the pinions, according to approved practice, to prevent the latter. from rotating on the shaft. The hub of each pinion is madealso wide enough to provide a radial groove, 4l, 42, respectively, and in these grooves areengaged shifting forks 43 and 44 respectively. The fork 43, which shifts the pinion A, slides on va shaft 45 above the shaft 20, and the fork 44, which shifts the pinion B, slides on a similarshaft 46 parallel to the first; the two shafts 45 and 4G being arranged side by side as shown. Be-

side the shaft, 20 and between it and the shaft 24 is a parallel counter-shaft 5Q on which is arranged a sliding Vpinion C similarly provided with aV groove'd'hub foren- 5 gagenient by a'shiiting fork 5l kthe latter sliding endwise .on a shaft 52, parallel to the shafts V45 and 46.' The threeshitting fork-shaftsare arranged side by side with" the shaft 45, which guides the iork for the',n

pinion A, in the middle.

Below the two shafts 20 and 50 is another oountershaft 6.0 to which there is fixed a pini l? in constant mesh with thelarge gear 25V and 'of suchV diameter that the vpinionl B' may also be nieshed and umneshed with it in the sliding movement of such pinion. 'l ie shaft 60 also carries a iixedpinion E, similarly adapted for meshing and unmeshing` with the pinion A in thejsliding mover. a fixed pinion F withV which the pinion A may be mashed i'n its movement in theopposite direction fromY that which meshes The sliding movementr the pinion C is adapted to mesh and unwith the pinion E. l Y

' mesh it withthe large gear 25.

,/laiile integral with'the hub part of eachl ne shitting forks are a pair of upwardlyv eoting flanges providing between thema deep-notch or groove 65 (F ig. 3), and above the gears there isv a llong transverse shaft 70' end 76 in a slotted plate78; the lever in its rocking movement back and forth-and its 'se sliding movement following the dienflrrccions oi the slots for the proper engage ment and disengagement of the three shirting pinions. For this purpose the parts are so' arranged that when the gears are in their neutral position f as here, shown, with the pinions A, B, and C all V unmeshech` the notches G5 ofthe two4 shifting `forks V43-and Z1 may pick up either of them,`biit the shifting fork'i is inv oi'fsetfrelation to the other twoso that'the finger -71 can not pick it upf without first shifting the pinion A out oiits` neutral position. `Correspondingly the guide plate? 8 is Vslotted as shown in Fig. 4 ,where it will be seen that through Aone of the changer-gear combinations Athe handl lever 7 5. Amay be moved 'to the left, as viewed in Fie.

inent of lthe latter, and on the shaft v50 thereV ihr-at its lower end a rounded enlai'geinentV hand lever 'i5 whichV is guided at its lowerf` ing forks and the shiftingof the correspond 44 Vare side by side so that the shifting iingerv to engage the middle shitting. forli 43, and

is then rotated inthe same direction to mesh the pinionV A.. with the pinion E; this position oi the partsbeing permitted by the slot in .the guide plate marked Secondspeed, which isparallel to the first slot and extends i: the samedirection. The pinion A be similarly unmeshed by bringing thelever 75 bach to its upright position, ,and with its end in the saine slot the lever may be rotated aast .its upright position `and inY the opposite direction to mesh the pinion fr with the pinionF. The relation of the parte is sur:L

.that when these latter two- Lpinions are thus mcshed the shifting finger 7l comes opposite the notch in the shifting Jforli 5l and Lhe hand lever may then be moved sidewise 'I t piel; up the third fork and shift the iin- *n C withoutfunmeshing the pinions A and lf. Shifting the pinionv C in one ydirection to mesh it with the, gearr25 provides the irst' speed or( lowest gear combination ahead, asvindioatedl at the end ofV the third slot injthe guideplate 7S, andshifting the pinion 'iny the opposite directionA meshes it with the pinion E to provide the reverse gear combination, it being noted that lthe three slots in the' guide plate are so arranged that the middle pointer neutral point in the third slot .is opposite one end of the. middle slot, thus permitting the shifting lever Vto mesh the pinion A and then to pick up the pinion C and mesh it in either the first speed or the reverse gear'oombination without unmeshing the pinion A; so vthat iii shifting the gears from the third speed or the second speed down to the first speed or thereverse, two pinions are meshed in one operation; and in shifting up to a higher gear combination from theV first speed or the reverse, two pinions are taken Yout of mesh in one operation.

As la further and additional improvement Vthere is interposed lbetween the` axle 12 of the machine and the journal member ll an eccentric bushingvSO which Amay be adjustably` .rotated to vary the distance between v centers of the pinions and internal gears 22 and provide for changing. the gear ratiov of these parts by substituting pinions larger or smaller in diaineterthan., those here shown. A

I claim .as my invention.:

1. In a change-gear device thecombination of a driving shaft and a driven shaft carrying a driven geaigacounter-shaft interposed between the driving shaft and the driven shaft, a sliding pinion on the driving shaft, a fixed and a sliding pinion on the counter-shaft, and means for meshing the first sliding pinion with the Xed pinion ling the movements of the sliding pinions,

and a laterally movable, oscillating shifting linger adapted to engage the shifting forks, the position of the shifting forks with the gears unmeshed being in off-set relation to each other, whereby the shifting linger may engage one fork through a movement of the other fork.

3. In a change-gear device, the combination of shafts and sliding pinions, an intermediate shaft with gears thereon adapted to be meshed by said sliding pinions, a hand lever adapted to impart movement to the sliding pinions, and a slotted guide plate for controlling the movements of the hand lever according to the meshed and unmeshed positions of the pinions in the various gear combinations and their neutral position, the guide plate having three parallel slots with connecting slots between them and the center of one slot being opposite' the end of the other.

4. In a change-gear device the combination of two parallel shafts having relatively non-rotative pinions sliding tlfereon, gears adapted for meshing with the pinions in their sliding movement, shifting forks for imparting sliding movement to the pinions,

. openings in the shifting forks and a shifting finger adapted to engage in the openings and to impart movement to the shifting forks,the shifting forks being arranged, in the unmeshed positions of the pinions, in off-set relation to each other, whereby the shifting finger may engage one fork after moving the'other fork into a position to mesh its pinion.

5. In a change-gear device the combination with two shafts having sliding pinions thereon in non-rotative relation thereto, shifting forks for imparting sliding movement to the pinions, openings in the shifting forks and a shifting finger adapted for engagement in the openings to impart movement to the forks, of a hand lever controlling the movement of the shifting finger and a guide plate controlling the movement of the hand lever, the guide plate having two parallel slots permitting an oscillating movement of the hand lever in two parallel planes, the position of the hand lever in the center of the first slot providing an unmeshed position of one of the sliding pinions and its position at an end of either slot providing a meshed position of the corresponding pinion, and the center of one slot being opposite an end of the other.

6. In a change-gear device the combination with a driving shaft and a driven shaft carrying a driven gear of a sliding pinion on the driving shaft in non-rotative relation thereto, two shafts interposed between the driving shaft and the driven shaft, one of the interposed shafts carrying a fixed pinion and another iixedpinion in constant mesh with the gear on the driven shaft, a fixed pinion on the second interposed shaft and a sliding pinion on the same shaft in non-'rotative relation thereto; and means for meshing the sliding pinion on the driving shaft with the fixed pinion on either interposed shaft with the sliding pinion on the second interposed shaft in its unmeshed position; and for meshingthe sliding pinion on the driving shaft with the fixed pinion on the second interposed shaft, and with it thus in mesh, meshing and sliding pinion on the second interposed shaft with either the driven gear or with the fixed pinion on the first interposed shaft.

In witness whereof, I have subscribed my name this 20th day of May, 1918.

CONRAD E. FRUDDEN. 

